The upcoming season is a year of change for Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill. Not only is the former first-round pick going into the all important third season for a quarterback, but it’s the first time he’s experienced a coaching shake-up at the highest levels of his football career. Former offensive coordinator Mike Sherman, who coached Tannehill during his four years at Texas A&M and his first two seasons in the NFL, is gone. Tannehill now gets to experience a new offensive system run by Bill Lazor. That offense could be more suited to his athleticism and skill set. It is that change that has pundits around the league predicting big things from the man behind center for Miami.

NFL Network’s Heath Evans is one of those analysts that sees the coaching change having a definite positive impact on Tannehill. He says it will bring a fresh face and new style to his game. It will take the quarterback out of his routine he’s been in for the past six years and challenge him to become even better.

“The one thing I love about the move with Bill is that it’s going to bring a new level of accountability,” said Evans. “With Sherman it was probably a lot of the same coaching patterns and habits for years. When you get with a new voice, you get different things that coaches are challenging you with.”

Evans has always been a big supporter of Tannehill because of his sound work ethic and high football intelligence. He sees him as a guy that’s smart from his pre-snaps reads on, and someone that can break down defenses well, which not all young quarterbacks can do at a high level.

“Ryan Tannehill sees the field well,” said Evans. “The reason why I’ve praised Ryan so thoroughly is that’s what you see. You don’t see the same mistakes twice. You see his ability to kind of grasp what defenses are throwing at him, and that’s really what separates quarterbacks.”

While Tannehill will have to continue to grow as a player, it will help that he’ll have people in front of him that can protect him now. NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport also sees Tannehill improving in year three, and thinks it will be partially because the offensive line will be much stronger than it was just a year ago.

“It’s certainly a critical year, and we’ve seen improvement since he’s gotten into the league, and I feel like this year will be a big step forward for him,” said Rapoport. “The offensive line will be better, so that helps. You want to go out and spend money in free agency, go out and spend money to make sure you’re quarterback is protected. I like what the Dolphins did there signing the premier left tackle on the market in Branden Albert.”

Coming out of A&M, Tannehill was still somewhat green at the quarterback position, with only 19 starts in his college career. Originally starting off the wide receiver position, his speed and quickness is still evident in his game today, and NFL Network’s Bucky Brooks sees that as a potential trump card in the young quarterback’s arsenal. That kind of skill set blends perfectly into Bill Lazor’s spread system, and he believes it makes Tannehill more suited to the offense than Nick Foles was to it in Philadelphia last year.

“I think Ryan Tannehill is a better athlete than Nick Foles, so he gives them a better dynamic playmaker at that position in terms of when they run some of that read option stuff, when they do some of the screen game, and when they do some of the things that are tenants of the spread offense,” said Brooks.

It will be all well and good to see Tannehill show off some of his flashier and more crowd-pleasing talent. In the end, it will all come down to his growth as a player in this exciting new offense. Brooks thinks that this offense will do that. He sees the spread system as the key to unlocking his full potential.

“This will actually accelerate his development because it will put him in a very easy comfort zone in terms of making it a friendly quarterback system,” said Brooks. “If he can handle it particularly operating at that pace, I think we can finally see Ryan Tannehill flourish as the starting quarterback of the Dolphins.”

Please Note:
The opinions, analysis and/or speculation expressed by The Finsiders Blog represent those of individual writers, and unless quoted or clearly labeled as such, do not represent the opinions, policies or desires of the Miami Dolphins organization, front office, coaches and executives. Writers' views are formulated independently from any inside information and/or conversation with Dolphins officials, including the coaches and scouts, unless otherwise noted.

14 Responses to “NFL Network Analysts Weigh In On Tannehill”

Two great factors; improved offensive line – keeping RT upright will have a positive effect on his decision-making ability and changing the offence to allow for his natural athleticism. Both point to more time to allow plays and options to evolve and less time for defences to react. Barring injury there should be a significant improvement. With the number of close games in the past year, I expect 2-3 more wins – which put the Fins in the playoffs!

I have never questioned Tannehill’s ability or skills. Tannehill was hogtied in Sherman’s stale offense for the past two years, and now that Bill Lazor has arrived with his high octane, spread option offense, people will realize that this is the offense that is more tailor made for him. Tannehill will have many more options in this offense, both before and after the snap. For the people that have always questioned Tannehill’s ability to read defenses, you will see this year, that he was stuck in a system, that didn’t allow him the time needed to get a proper read. Not only was he in an offense that was limited in the amount of things that you can do out of it, but he was behind an o-line that wouldn’t allow him time to read and adjust. Then throw in the fact that the running game absolutely refused to take any pressure off of the passing game, by establishing some resemblance of a running game, and you have a formula for disaster, which is what we witnessed at the close of last season. Tannehill is going to be like a kid in a toy store this year, going from that stale old system that he’s been stuck in all of his football life to this wide open fast paced offense that Lazor employs. I think that everyone will be elated, that we stuck with Tannehill by the time this season gets underway. We are in for a very entertaining season, one that you can’t wait for next Sunday to roll around.

Randy, you and I are on the same page, I never questioned his skill set, I questioned the playcalling the last two years…. Sherman was decent in Green Bay but that was years and years ago, the game passed him by in terms of calling a good game. I think Ryan will take off this year, and if we stay true to the spread and up-tempo game we should be in good shape this year. We should win all of our early home games due to the conditions, most teams should will not be able to handle the humid conditions by the 4th quarter down in Miami. The only thing I want to see from Ryan is taking more of a vocal leadership role on the side line and the huddle. I want him to get in the face of his teammates when they make mistakes like missing a block or dropping a pass. Ryan you are the face of the franchise, you will get the glory and blame, so make everyone else accountable. Now lets go out and drop a double nickel on NE, make a statement and let the REST OF THE NFL, NOW, there’s a new sheriff in town and his name is RYAN TANNEHILL

I know this is off the topic here… but I keep reading an hoping to see James, Turner, and Landry signed by now. Anyone have a clue what’s going on with those 3 draftees?
I may be behind the 8ball on this question, but I’d like to know, thanks. Kind of hoping you know Randy, you seem most knowledgeable on this.

I hope these guys are rite but my gut tells me Sherman never changed much cause RT really ain’t ready for NFL QB BEING! I mean Sherman must care for RT like a son,so he kept the offence simple so RT had a chance to succeed. Hope I’m wrong!

There is no question that Sherman’s offense held Tannehill back. But there is also no question that Tannehill’s pocket presence, and poor accuracy from the pocket also held Sherman’s offense back. Tanny’s rookie year, he led the league in completion percentage, from outside of the pocket. Flat out… the dude can throw on the run, from anywhere! But if he doesn’t learn to get rid of the ball under pressure, and hit downfield receivers from the pocket… then all that new O-Line help only benefits the running game.

Fu*k this article! Fu*k NFL NEtwork. They been doing nothing but talk sh*t. They’ll all jump on the Tannehill band wagon after this year. HEY RANDY… Didn’t Tannehill almost finish in top 10 in every QB category last year especially yards? YEAH! ALSO TOOK 50 SACKS N DID THAT.ALBERT BETTER STAY HEALTHY! Pretty sure Sherman would still be there if we didn’t blow the last two games last year. Philbin is not the answer and never will be. HE NEEDS TO JUST STAY QUIET N KEEP ANSWERING INCOGNITO QUESTIONS. WHY DIDN’T WE GET JEFFFISHER?damn… But hes all we got! The Dolphins piss me off!!! They draft decent players then either trade them or don’t resign them!!! iknowiknow,imoverit…I like that this year we didn’t go high profile players in the draft or free agency like we usually do. It keeps us under the radar. Ellerbe and Wheeler better F-N step up! NOBODY HAS TO WORRY ABOUT TANNEHILL, HES OUR GUY NO MATTER WHAT!

Well when ya get sacked 90 times or hit almost every damn play of course your not gonna look great , but when Tannehill had time in the pocket he was deadly , hopefully that line will take care of him this year , Go Fins !!